The Ohio Budget Planning and Management Commission — a bipartisan panel charged with crafting recommendations on how to solve an $8 billion shortfall in the 2012-2013 state budget — is asking the public for help.
The commission last week launched a new website soliciting the public’s advice, bpmc.legislature.state.oh.us/.
“The public input will be invaluable as we roll up our sleeves and move forward developing solutions,” commission chairman Rep. Vernon Sykes, D-Akron, said in a release.
The website requires users to register before being allowed to make recommendations.
The commission consists of three state representatives and three senators. It is holding a series of hearings over the next several months and then will prepare a list of recommendations for the Legislature on how to balance the budget for the upcoming biennium, which begins in July 2011.